The Wii U games console has been discontinued since early 2017. But if you want to play this old Nintendo console on modern hardware, y'all can, thanks to the Cemu emulator for Windows PCs.

Not but does this emulator allow yous play Wii U games on a PC, but it also improves upon the original hardware, upscaling certain games to 4K resolution. Be warned however, that while Cemu is nether constant development, the quality of gameplay does vary from game to game.

Legal Ways To Play Wii U Games On a PC

Piracy is a problem that games companies like Nintendo take extremely seriously. That means that it's non advisable to find and download pirated Wii U games online.

The best way to play Wii U games is to really buy the Wii U games you wish to play 2nd-hand and apply the ddd WiiU Title Dumper or disc2app tools to scan and "dump" the Wii U game files. You'll demand a "homebrew" Wii U console which has been modified to allow you lot to run non-Nintendo software to be able to exercise this.

If y'all tin't copy Wii U games yourself or you don't have a homebrew Wii U panel bachelor, you'll demand to search for Wii U game files online. Every bit we've mentioned, however, this does carry risks and could break privacy laws in your state, so it isn't something nosotros'd recommend.

Installing The Cemu Emulator

Assuming you accept Wii U game files ready to play, and earlier you lot install the Cemu emulator, you lot'll need a PC with the right system requirements. Minimum system requirements include having Windows 7 (or higher up) with at least 4GB of RAM, although 8GB is recommended. You'll need to make sure that the latest C++ redistributable packages are installed on your PC.

You will too need a expert quality NVIDIA or AMD graphics menu. If you accept Intel graphics, Cemu isn't currently supported. The Cemu development team has indicated this is due to extreme visual issues that prevent y'all from playing games with this type of graphics chipset.

  • If your PC meets the minimum system requirements, download the latest version from the Cemu website. The installation comes as a ZIP file, so extract it to a suitable location like your Windows Desktop folder.
  • You'll too need to do the same with Cemu Hook, a graphics and performance add-on for Cemu. Download the matching Cemu Claw version for your version of Cemu, then extract the contents of the ZIP file into your Cemu installation directory.
  • With Cemu Claw installed, run Cemu past double-clicking the Cemu.exe file in your Cemu directory. If there's a "missing shared fonts" fault at the bottom of your Cemu screen, click Download Now. The process will complete automatically.
  • There are also a significant number of community graphics packs for Cemu that are designed to improve the gameplay experience. If you're running Cemu version i.15.1 and in a higher place, you can download these automatically. To practice and so, click Options, then Graphics Packs. Click Download latest community graphics packs.
  • Finally, you lot tin consider downloading shader caches for your Wii U games. This isn't necessary, but if you lot don't, the Cemu emulator will need to generate the shader caches itself. This can cause heavy gameplay lag during the first few attempts at gameplay while the cache is created. This Reddit post has a long list of caches yous can download. Copy the included BIN files to your Cemu installation binder/shaderCache/transferable/ directory.

Once your shader caches are installed, y'all tin can now begin customizing your Cemu installation.

Setting Up The Wii U Emulator

There are quite a few settings including your graphics add-ons and controller configurations that y'all'll demand to modify or configure in Cemu get-go before you can brainstorm playing.

The community graphics packs you automatically downloaded in the last stage each have individual settings for each game. You'll need to set these up for each game you programme on playing.

  • Click Options, and so Graphics Packs. For each game, click the + arrow. Each game will have a resolution setting, so click Resolution, then select your chosen display resolution from the Active preset driblet-down carte on the right. Confirm any other settings or graphics modifications for your game at this stage.

Next, you'll need to fix upwards a controller. Cemu supports you using your keyboard and mouse, equally well as USB and Bluetooth gamepads. You'll need to map your chosen controller to the emulated Wii U controller fundamental presses.

  • Click Options, then Input Settings. Nether Emulate Controller, choose Wii U Pro Controller. Select your Controller API by choosing Keyboard for your keyboard or XInput for a USB controller. Choose Wiimote if yous're using an older Bluetooth Wii remote.
  • For each push button, press next to each letter or controller item, then press a fundamental, or move or printing the appropriate keypad on your controller to map information technology. Once your controller has been fully mapped, type a profile name in the Profile box, then click Salvage to save the profile.

You tin find out more than about mapping your controller past visiting the Cemu controller configuration guide.

Playing Wii U Games In Cemu

Not every Wii U game can be played in Cemu. Cemu is yet listed every bit an "experimental" emulator, with some games totally unplayable. With that in mind, you should check the official Cemu gameplay rating folio to decide whether a game is playable or not.

  • If information technology is, and yous have the appropriate gameplay files available, click File then Load. In the file selection card, locate your Wii U game files. These come up in the WUD, WUX, ISO or RPX file format, depending on how you acquired the game files. Click Open to launch the game.

Once launched, you tin brainstorm playing your game in the Cemu window. Information technology will default to using the resolution and controller options you lot established in the previous steps.

If you have any issues, the Cemu wiki has further guides and steps on how to dump your Wii U game discs and how to configure or troubleshoot Wii U gameplay on your PC.